Harvey And Val Denton
Harvey and Val Denton are a toad obsessed couple that live in Royston Vasey whose nephew Benjamin stays with them only for them to make him desperate to leave. Harvey is a man with toad-like features, complete with warts and he wears clothes from a different era, he is obsessed with masturbation and magical toads. Val his wife adores him and is willing to do anything he wishes but clearly is easily upset and is a little more normal than her husband. They have a house from the 1970's where the love of toads is everywhere including jigsaws framed, they have a strict set of rules that are there to confuse and could make guests go mad. Inspiration The Denton are based on relations of Jeremy Dyson that he had the bad luck of staying with, they gave him these insane rules and a door that had a confusing set of lock, which Jeremy got wrong and felt the guilt for when the question was shouted the next day. Chloe and Radclyffe were based on the girls from The Shining. Radio Benjamin came to the town Spent for a Job Interview at the plant, however the Dentons made him miss the interview. He spends the rest of the Radio Show trying to leave TV Series One Benjamin was meant to stay overnight with them before going off with his friend Martin, Harvey and Val tell him to make himself at home which is obviously impossible, Harvey delays Benjamin by giving him a tour of the huge Toad Room in the Basement and so he thinks Martin has gone off on his own however he is in fact dead thanks to Tubbs and Edward. As Season 1 progresses, it becomes clear that the pair, especially Val, don't want Benjamin to leave, it doesn't help that Harvey is forever accusing Benjamin of masturbating, using an array of amusing euphemisms, lock the doors without at 6:15pm sharp and that they drink Aqua Vitae (piss). After being forced to babysit Chloe and Radclyffe Benjamin also made the mistake of killing two of Harvey's favourite toads, Sonny and Cher, by frying one on an electric heater and stepping on the other. He offers to make amends but after being forced to do a load of silly chores he snaps and Harvey apologizes and explains how he was called names for looking like a toad and he relates to Toads, but they want the world to understand. They allow Benjamin to after he pays a intemized bill they have made with Val having a Card Machine. Series Two While doing the chores Val who misses Benjamin is confronted by the girls about this and she denies this to them. Later on while the girls are at Papa Lazarou’s carnival Harvey talks toad known to the Mapapa tribe of the shakiti hills as the devil's toad. "If one were to squeeze its little yellow belly, one's heart's desire would be granted." With him and his wife, Val, that turned out to be true. He wished for a self-lowering toilet seat, while Val asked for her nephew, Benjamin, to return. Both wishes came true. Benjamin was unable to remember anything so Harvey and Val sing him the Household rules, however once he begins to recover they decide he shouldn't leave. The plan takes effect when Benjamin walks in on them naked, they explain that the first Monday is Nude Day where they spend the day naked. They force him to strip off as well and answer the door naked. Benjamin surprises the caller Dr. Mekos and brings him back to the living room, where Harvey and Val are dressed and Benjamin is humiliated. The Doctor gives them strong sedatives for him and remarks that their Nude Day is on the 15th meaning that they haven’t pretended to create something to get Benjamin into trouble. However their plans are discovered by Benjamin who doesn't take the drugs finds their type up a letter made to look as if it was from Benjamin, declaring that he wishes to stay with the Dentons and he escapes making a mess for them to the Toad Room. Inside A human -ized toad cage they find a mess and Benjamin confronts them with one of the toads in a liquidiser, when Val questions is motive reveals that Harvey plans to keep him as a pet, Showing off the pamphlet Val questions Harvey and reveals that he was going to do this showing off the “food” which disgusts Val. However before Benjamin can do anything Chloe and Radcliffe armed with a gun stop Benjamin, after giving them the liquidiser he goes, however ,Chloe and Radcliffe question their parents " what goes green to red in a flick of a switch" Harvey accidentally refers to the frog in the liquidiser but the girls remind him of his rule of no frogs before killing the toad and locks Val and Harvey in the cage with Harvey mouthing “I cCan' Breathe”. Though they are never expressly killed off, this is the last we see of Harvey and Val. Christmas Special In the Christmas Special, Val is seen as head of "Solutions Inc.", though this may not be real, given that it took place in Charlie's dream. A relative identical to Harvey is briefly seen on the streets of Royston Vasey in the Victorian era, shaking a collection tin in a suggestive manner. After these Cameos The Dentons was not seen in the Third Series and Christmas, which was a surprise as they were important characters in the previous series, but the problem is that Benjamin has left Royston Vasey so they didn't have a reason to appear and so no reason existed for them. Anniversary Specials In the 2017 Val appears and Harvey is now dead, Val has invited Benjamin back to the funeral, the house is in a terrible state as Harvey was the only person that cared to clean the house, however she and the twins have brought Benjamin to be used in their ritual. It turns out Harvey’s corpse in the Basement and they force Benjamin to swallow a magical toad that makes him swap souls with Harvey however it’s far from a grateful reunion with Harvey clearing up the house Val convinces Benjamin to expel Harvey by puking up the toad. Benjamin succeeds and Val later escorts Benjamin to the train station and invites him to come visit again. Live Shows Drury Lane The Aqua Vita sketch was performed in the Drury Lane, as seen on TV, but during the last Blackpool Show Mark as Val opened the sketch giving Harvey oral sex but when Benjamin comes in shocked Mark spat out a mixture of Mayonnaise and Yoghurt replacing the you know what. Are Behind You. Harvey and Val open Act One of the Pantomime with the Household Rules which has the missing lyric cut from Television restored. The final lyric is also changed to be about if the audience think the work is tough they then strip naked and suggest doing it thus. Trivia Deleted Scene and Unused Ideas * The Dentons were meant to have a wake after Sonny and Cher's funeral and Benjamin often to make amends and the couple laugh about their plans before pretending nothing happened. * In the First Season Script Harvey was to accuse Benjamin of Phone Sex when he tries to use the phone to call Martin causing Ben to use a Public Phone. * The Household rules had deleted lyrics about keeping lights off in the day and walking lightly on the stairs, it was restored for the Pantomime * In the script for Series Two the couple's plan to keep Benjamin was to pretend he was a French girl called Marianne but after being caught about to put on the dress and speaking French in front of the doctor. However Nude Day was preferred. * The final episode of Series 2 was to have Ben force Harvey to do several things after confronting him with his plans these included cleaning the Bathroom and being forced to Masturbate. Behind the Scene * The Dention's House was designed after the Hotel rooms of the Shining, the Wallpaper came from na old woman whose shop was filledwithf 70's Wallpaper, the team took all the wallpaper and gave her new stock but she refused to sell them. * In Episode 1 Val was without her Plat and in Episode Two it was added which made her more female. * The sliding in and out of Val is based on the ghosts in The Innocents. * Aqua Vita is based on the idea of Urine Therapy and the name on the same in the Twilight Zone episode. * When the household rules song was first broadcasted Steve had an negative reaction from his brother. * Val's nude scene is forgotten as being the first Nude Drag Scene, however her pubic hair had to digitally enhanced as it was patchy. * The pantomime has Harvey and Val begin with announcing what is forbidden with their own twist. * Some nights during the pantomime Harvey and Val's naked bodies were swapped on purpose. Category:Characters played by Steve Pemberton Category:Characters played by Mark Gatiss Category:Series One characters Category:Series Two characters Category:Christmas special characters Category:Locals Category:The League of Gentlemen: Live at Drury Lane characters Category:The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You! characters